LOGIC - Module 4b the Fallacies of Content(Pt.3)

8/3/2019 LOGIC - Module 4b the Fallacies of Content(Pt.3)

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When you base your argument on

something which itself is not secured,your argument will not be sound.

It is like the three moron cowboyswho when entering into the county

saloon and seeing no hitching postaround, tied the first horse to thesecond, the second to the third, andthe third to the first, and thoughttheir horses are well-secured.

For this fallacy, the wider you makethe circle, the more chances you getof being effective.


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If your professor in ethics asks you

what an honest person is and youanswer "an honest person is aperson who is honest," you areassuming the idea that you were

asked to define and for that you areguilty of the fallacy of begging thequestion.

The old folks also fall into this fallacywhen they say: "The youth of today

are not as well-behaved as the youthof the olden times. You know why?Well in our times we were alwayswell-behaved.


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One political cartoon in the eighties

used this fallacy as its punching line.The cartoon character in a pensivemood starts his soliloquy: "Governmentteachers are not well-paid. This isbecause the persons responsible for our

national budget are not competent.They are not competent because theywere not properly educated. They werenot properly educated because theirteachers were not enthusiastic. They

were not enthusiastic because theywere not well-compensated. Thus,government teachers are not well-paid".Notice that this can be repeated on andon without actually proving why the

government teachers are not well-paid.


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The fallacy of the appeal to ignorance

occurs when we assume that in acertain dispute, the failure to

prove one side is a ground toconclude the truth of the otherside.

The fact that we cannot prove thatcreatures from the outer space do not exist,clearly does not mean that we can logicallyconclude that they exist.

Theologians and scientist cannot prove thatthere is God, yet such a failure does notmean that we can say there is no God.


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FIRST-EVER PHOTOS OF AMERMAID!Image Of Half-Woman Half-Fish Dazzles Tourists In

Hawaii!by Ann Victoria/Weekly World NewsKAILUA-KONA, HAWAII - For more than 50years, people have reported seeing a mermaidoff the coast of Hawaii's Big Island. But thesightings were never taken seriously -- until a

dive-boat captain finally captured the half-woman, half-fish on film!


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As suggested by the name itself,this fallacy happens whenever one

presents an argument that contains twoassumptions which simultaneously cannot betrue.

This is much like saying "I neverborrowed his car, and it already hadthat dent when I got it."


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When your physics professor asks youwhat happens if an irresistible forcecollides with an immovable object, hehas assumed two things that are

contradictory: the force is notirresistible if there is an immovableobject, just as the object is notimmovable if there is an irresistibleforce.


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Politicians use this fallacy when they promise the

people that they will cut the taxes in half anddouble all government services. But how can they

reduce the government's source of income if they

are planning to increase its budget, and how can

they increase the budget if they are planning to

reduce the governments source of income.


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This fallacy is committed

whenever one tries tojustify an admittedly faulty

action by charging whoeveraccuses him with a similarwrong.

The fallacy of two wrongsmake a right is based on theassumption that if others aredoing a similar thing, ourwrong deeds are justified ormade tolerable.


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If Americans accuse us of the

countless human rights violationin the country, we think thecounter-accusation "How aboutyou? Don't you practiceabortion?" settles the issue.

White South Africans did thesame thing. When theAmericans criticized theirapartheid system, they hurledback the comment "the UnitedStates was the last major nation

to abolish legal slavery."


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It is true that words have their own

proper meanings, yet when used inlanguage, their intended meaningsdo not only depend on each of them.In language meaning is not

determined only by each of themeanings of each particular word. Inlanguage, the meaning of a word ismodified by the neighbouring words,and the sense of a sentence is

modified by the neighbouringsentences and paragraphs.


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When oneindiscriminately cuts aword or groups of

words away from theiroriginal context, thereis a possibility that youwill end up distortingits meaning or sense.


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A pro-gun leaflet cites a Metro Manilamayor as making a statement "citizenskeeping guns and defending themselves isa must." But in reality the mayor wassaying "citizens keeping guns anddefending themselves is a must if what weenvisioned is a society infested withanarchy and vigilantism."

In their effort to sensationalize trivialthings, tabloids are notorious of this. In

one issue, a tabloid flashes a headline inblaring red letters "Actress Rosanna wasraped," of course when you read furtheryou will know that the actress had a rapescene in her forth coming movie.


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SUMMARY LIST OF FALLACIES

1. Prestige Jargon - when maliciously used for

an audience who are not experts or who belongto other fields of practice in order to soundimpressive and intimidating

2. Emotional Words - when one carefullyemploys words and images that are heavy with

emotional connotations in order to secure thesympathies of others.

3. Double Talking or Euphemism - wheneverwe carefully package our unpleasant ideas innice sounding words. Here, words are used to

hide, to mask and to mislead others.


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4. Meaning from Association - the advertisedproducts are put side by side with logicallyunrelated things and ideas, to suggest that ifyou purchase this or that product you too get

the associated things and ideas.5. Misuse of Authority - whenever we cite anauthority in one given field regarding an issuethat is outside his/her field of competence.

6. Repeated Assertion - This fallacy repeats

or multiplies essentially the same assertion withthe aim that sooner or later people will accept itas true.

7. Attitude Fitting it is done throughinserting into the argument persons, objects,

situations or ideas that are known in advance tobe positively or negatively regarded by theintended audience.

b. Psychological

warfare


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8. Tokenism - This fallacy happenswhen people are misled to see a tokengesture as the real thing. Whenever

substantial action is needed butperforming it would be too expensive,time and effort consuming, and evendistracting to one's agenda, politiciansresort to this fallacy.

9. Poisoning the Well - It happenswhen one discounts in advance theopponent's evidence, proof, or counterargument, thereby preventing him from

employing them.

b. Psychological

warfare


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10. Rationalizing - When one's ego isplaced in an unpleasant situation one canspin untrue, but pleasant, reasons to settlethings.

11. Argumentum Ad Baculum - Thisfallacy happens when force or the threat offorce is used instead of proper reason.

12. Argumentum Ad Hominem This

fallacy attacks the person of the opponenthimself. It wrongly assumes that if youdiscredit a person, his argument is alsodiscredited.

13. Confident Manner - The fallacy of

confident manner is saying too little ornothing at all in so much impressive wordsand body language.

b. Psychological

warfare


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14. Fallacy of Composition - This fallacy pointsout that if each of the members of a given grouphas a particular characteristic feature, then thegroup as a whole has this same characteristic

feature.15. Fallacy of Division - This fallacy points outthat if a given group as a whole has a particularcharacteristic feature, then each of its membershas this same characteristic feature.

16. Fallacy of false dilemma, or the black andwhite fallacy, operates in the followingmanner.

First, it effaces the various alternatives inbetween two extreme alternatives in aparticular issue.

Second, it makes us choose what alternativeto take knowing in advance that whateverwe choose it will be to our disadvantage.

c. Logical

Maneuvers


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17. Argument of the Beard - the fallacyof the argument of the beard does theopposite thing by capitalizing the

various shades in the middle ground andconcealing the differences of the twoopposite extremes in the end.

18. The Strawman - Here, the arguer

misrepresents or misinterprets theopponent's position by exaggeration ordistortion with the view of an easierattack.

c. Logical

Maneuvers


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19. Slippery Slope - happens when oneobjects to and criticizes a particularaction with the reason that once such an

action is performed, it will simply leadunavoidably to a similar yet unpleasantaction, which again will lead to an evenmore undesirable action, and so on,sliding down the slippery slope untilunknown horrors lurking at the bottomwill be the ultimate fate. This fallacy isalso known as the grand domino theory.

20. Diversion - means wandering from

the main point, or going away from thesubject matter.

c. Logical

Maneuvers


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21. Begging the Question - This fallacyhappens when the argument assumesthat which it is trying to prove.

22. Appeal to Ignorance - when weassume that in a certain dispute, thefailure to prove one side is a ground toconclude the truth of the other side.

23. Contradictory Assumption -whenever one presents an argumentthat contains two assumptions whichsimultaneously cannot be true.

c. Logical

Maneuvers


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24. Two Wrongs Make a Right -whenever one tries to justify anadmittedly faulty action by charging

whoever accuses him with a similarwrong.

25. Lifting out of context - When oneindiscriminately cuts a word or groupsof words away from their originalcontext, there is a possibility that youwill end up distorting its meaning orsense.

c. Logical

Maneuvers


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Before finally closing this

discussion, we first make somebrief retrospect on theimportant points that we havecovered:

1) We traced the art of conjuringtricky arguments back to theSophist of ancient Greece,thereby also tracing the

explanation why Aristotleincluded them in his studies inlogic.

2) We defined the fallacies as lies

and incorrect arguments that


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3) We examined the three types of

fallacies of content, the linguisticmanipulation, the psychologicalwarfare, and logical manoeuvres.We learned that their being

fallacious is based on theiranomalous contents. Linguisticmanipulation exploits the nature oflanguage, psychological warfaretargets man's sensuousness,

emotions and sub-conscious, andlogical manoeuvres aim to fool theintellect itself.


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Though we have not covered all the fallacies,definitely we have examined and studied themost common and widely used ones, therebyforewarning us and arming us with the basicknowledge so that we will not be victimized againby their tricks.

LOGIC - Module 4b the Fallacies of Content(Pt.3)

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